1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a recording medium for use in an ink jet recording method and the like, a recording medium having a porous ink receiving layer containing inorganic particles on a base is known. In such a porous ink receiving layer, when the number of voids is large, the refractive index of the ink receiving layer is low. Therefore, there is a tendency for the reflectivity on the surface of the ink receiving layer to decrease, and thus the glossiness of the recording medium decreases. Then, as a method of improving the glossiness of the recording medium, a method of providing a gloss layer containing colloidal silica on the outermost surface of the recording medium is known. A reason why the glossiness of the recording medium improves as a result of the recording medium containing the colloidal silica is as follows. The colloidal silica is likely to take a configuration in which the colloidal silica is densely packed when the ink receiving layer is formed as compared with other inorganic particles. Therefore, since the number of voids, which lead to a decrease in glossiness, decreases, the glossiness becomes high. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-152777 describes a recording medium having a gloss imparting layer containing the colloidal silica.